Ellis pushed through the curtain of hanging moss and stopped dead. The forest floor ahead was glowing—a ribbon of blue-green light winding between the ancient trunks. He knelt and pressed his palm to the warm light. It hummed under his fingers like a sleeping cat. The glow pulsed once, then swallowed the path behind him.
Ellis walked the glowing trail until the trees grew thicker. Then three woodland spirits dropped from the branches above, landing softly and blocking his way. The tallest one stepped forward. Its skin was like bark, and its antlers were wrapped in dandelion fluff.
"A bargain for the way home," the tallest spirit said, holding up three fingers. The other two began chanting in low, rattling voices that vibrated through the damp air. Ellis swallowed and stepped back onto the glowing path.
The first spirit tossed Ellis a puzzlebox carved from a single walnut. It wouldn't open no matter how he twisted and pulled. The second spirit pointed to a row of hollow stumps and demanded he find the moon-clover root. The third spirit laughed and asked for a joke.
Ellis set the puzzlebox on the ground and flipped it over. It had a flat bottom. It was never meant to open—it was meant to roll. He pushed it gently across the moss, and the third spirit watched it come.
The puzzlebox rolled toward the third spirit. It rolled right into the spirit's feet. The spirit stumbled with a loud squawk and fell backward into a deep pile of autumn leaves with a soft whoosh.
The other two spirits stared. Then they burst out laughing. Their laughter was deep and rattling, and it shook silver berries from the branches above. They shook with it, bending double, until even the tall one had to lean on a tree to catch its breath.
The tallest spirit straightened and bowed its head. It gestured with one long finger, and the glowing path ahead stood clear—straight and bright, leading through the trees like a river of light.
Ellis followed the light through the trees. The glow grew thinner, the trunks fewer, and the air changed—from damp and mossy to warm and familiar. He ran faster, and the branches began to thin.
Ellis burst out onto his own street. The glow faded to nothing behind him, swallowed by the ordinary dark of a normal evening. He turned in a circle, half-expecting to see moss and trees again, but there was only his sidewalk.
He looked down. Something silver rested in his open palm—a single berry, glowing faintly, still warm from the forest. He closed his fingers around it and slipped it into his pocket.
Ellis walked toward his house. The kitchen light was already on, casting a yellow square across the front step. He reached into his pocket and touched the silver berry one more time before going inside.